Guelph gets $4.68M for Making Progress Towards 2023 Housing Target

eAwazLocal News

Funding can be used to invest in housing- or community-enabling infrastructure

Guelph — Paul Calandra, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, announced Ontario is providing Guelph with $4,680,000 in funding through the Building Faster Fund after the city made substantial progress towards meeting its 2023 housing target, breaking ground on a total of 1,287 new housing units last year.

“I applaud the work being done by Guelph and all the other municipalities that are making substantial progress toward their 2031 housing targets,” said Paul Calandra, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. “My message to mayors across this province is that we must continue to work together and build on our progress on making homeownership a reality for everyone. We will give you the tools you need to succeed in our shared goal.”

Announced in August 2023, the Building Faster Fund is a three-year, $1.2 billion program that is designed to encourage municipalities to address the housing supply crisis. The fund rewards municipalities that make significant progress against their targets by providing funding for housing-enabling and community-enabling infrastructure. Funding is provided to municipalities that have reached at least 80 per cent of their provincially assigned housing target for the year with increased funding for municipalities that exceed their target.

“The provincial Building Faster Fund will help Guelph address the housing crisis in our community,” said Cam Guthrie, Mayor of the City of Guelph. “Our continued desire to work collaboratively with upper levels of government to ensure policies, programs and tools are available to get shovels in the ground faster and increase housing supply is proving to work well for our city. To meet Guelph’s target to build 18,000 new homes by 2031, the City also needs cooperation from the development community, partner organizations, and the public. My hope is that we’ll continue a positive relationship as funds like this, and others, become available.”

Any unspent funding from the Building Faster Fund will be made available for housing-enabling infrastructure to all municipalities, including those that have already received funding as a result of reaching their targets, through an application process. In addition, ten per cent – or $120 million – of the Building Faster Fund is being set aside for small, rural and northern municipalities to help build housing-enabling infrastructure and prioritize projects that speed up the increase of housing supply.